Demidov University

Yaroslavl State University was revived on June 13, 1969 when the Council of Ministers of the USSR enacted Decree №452, which was signed by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Aleksey Nikolayevich Kosygin.

The initiative to open a new university belonged to Fyodor Ivanovich Loshchenkov — the first secretary of the Yaroslavl Regional Committee of the CPSU, and undoubtedly, his personal energy and direct interest expedited the process of performing this difficult task. The idea of creating the university came in connection with the centenary of the birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin who signed the Decree of transforming the Demidov Juridical Lyceum into the State University. In spite of being refused by the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education of the RSFSR and the Council of Ministers of the Russian Federation, Fyodor Ivanovich Loshchenkov managed to convince the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the CPSU, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, of reasonability of recreating the university. Later, the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR №452 for opening the University in 1971 was enacted. But the regional leaders strived to perform the task by the centenary of Lenin’s birth and made great efforts to start the university studies as early as 1970.

In December 1969, the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education of the RSFSR appointed Lev Vladimirovich Sretensky to the position of the Rector of Yaroslavl State University. Many Yaroslavl enterprises, research institutes, Teachers’ Training and Technological Institutes were involved in creating the material and technical basis of the University. The city authorities assigned two construction organisations, the Chairman of the City Executive Committee, Yuri Dmitriyevich Kirillov, helped greatly in recreating the University. By the Decree of the Regional Committee of the CPSU of October 21, 1969, the future university was given two buildings for studies, while the construction of the hostel for 500 students and the 80-flat house for teachers was planned. Yaroslavl Teachers’ Training Institute gave invaluable help. Apart fr om the fact that a considerable part of its lecturers went to work at the new university, the Scientific Library of Yaroslavl State Teachers’ Training Institute took an immediate part in completing the original university library stock. In January 1970, the University was given the building of the former Technological Institute in the very centre of Yaroslavl, which became the main building of the university. The building of the Pirogov School №34, also placed in the centre of the city, was given for studies and the library — the former building of the Asylum in Krestyanskaya Street (now Andropov Street). Yaroslavl big enterprises helped the University actively, especially the Engine Plant. Its director, Anatoly Mikhailovich Dobrynin, gave a big sum of money for acquisition of electronics, in particular a computer “Odra” of the Soviet-Polish production. It started the creation of the University Computer Centre.

Though the University was ready to work, the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education of the RSFSR refused to open it before the date stated in Decree №452 of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. But Fyodor Ivanovich Loshchenkov managed to convince the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Aleksey Nikolayevich Kosygin, of the university’s readiness to work and Aleksey Nikolayevich gave an order to open the University in Yaroslavl in 1970.

On September 1, 1970 in a festively decorated hall Yaroslavl University gathered its 300 first-year students, 33 teachers, the Rectorate and the heads of the departments. At the grand meeting, devoted to the beginning of the first academic year of the revived university, present were all the members of the bureau of the Yaroslavl Regional Committee of the Party headed by Fyodor Ivanovich Loshchenkov, all the members of the Yaroslavl Regional Executive Committee and its Chairman Vasily Fyodorovich Toropov, and the leaders of the City Executive Committee headed by Yury Dmitriyevich Kirillov. Two more people are worth mentioning here: Mikhail Nikolayevich Shaposhnikov, the head of the Department of Science and Higher Education of the Regional Committee of the CPSU, and Anastasiya Alexeyevna Turlayeva, the instructor of this Department. These two were not just the guests but the most active participants in the efforts of the university reconstruction. Yaroslavl again became a university city.

The university structure was determined by the order of the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education of the RSFSR №652 of December 30, 1970. The University had to contain seven faculties: Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Economics, Law, History, Psychology and the Preparatory Department with the rights of the faculty. In 1970, six specialities were opened: Physics, Mathematics, Accounting, Industry Planning, Law and Psychology.

The revived university was growing quickly: on September 1, 1970, 33 teachers worked at the University, then in spring 1971, there were already 73 specialists. At the same time the drafting and publishing group prepared to publish the first “Vestnik Yaroslavskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta”. In 1972, postgraduate courses were opened, in 1973, the Scientific and Research Department was opened. In 1974, a new building for studies, having 4.7 thousand square meters was built, a garage, a greenhouse, a canteen, and the construction of the sports and fitness camp “Uleima” started.

The number of specialities was growing, and by 1987 the faculties structure took the form determined by the order of the Minister of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education of the RSFSR №652 of December 30, 1970. In addition new faculties appeared: the Faculty of Computer Science (1986) and the Faculty of Socio-Political Sciences (1997), which was originally called the Faculty of Social Sciences. In 1979, the councils on defending Ph.D. theses in Economics, History and allied sciences started their work.

In 1983, the Ministry of Higher and Secondary Specialised Education of the RSFSR offered the position of the Rector of the University to Professor German Sevirovich Mironov, a Doctor of Chemistry. According to the current legislation of the RF and the new Statute of Yaroslavl State University of 2002, the position of the rector became elective. At the Conference, consisting of teachers, staff and students, on March 26, 2002, German Sevirovich Mironov became the first elected rector in the modern history of the University.

In the 1990s, the University continued with its development. In 1996, the University Internet Centre headed by Alexander Ilyich Rusakov was opened. It was the first Internet Centre at provincial universities of Russia. The activity of this department helped the university win the grant of the International Science Foundation and the grants of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, for creating the telecommunication backbone YARNET in the Yaroslavl Region for serving the socio-cultural area of the region: science, education, public health, culture and art. The programme of the University Internet Centre became the biggest regional integration project of 1996–1999. In 2001, the University was given several buildings, including the gym and the building wh ere the University Library was moved. The University Library has more than 600 thousand titles. To improve serving the readers, the Library branches were opened at many faculties. Since 1999, the branch of the Human Rights Library of the Council of Europe has worked in the University Library.

The name of Pavel Grigoriyevich Demidov was not forgotten at the University. By the Decree of the Governor of the Yaroslavl Region, Anatoly Ivanovich Lisitsin, of February 21, 1995, Yaroslavl State University was given the name of Pavel Grigoriyevich Demidov. In December 1998, the International Demidov Foundation, P.G. Demidov Yaroslavl State University, Yaroslavl Architectural Historical and Art Museum Preserve held the All-Russian Conference “Demidov Readings”. During the conference in the presence of Nina Grigoriyevna Demidova, the great-niece of the founder of “Yaroslavl School of Higher Sciences”, a memorial plaque in honour of Pavel Grigoriyevich Demidov was placed over the entrance to the main University building.

In 2003, Yaroslavl Demidov State University celebrated its 200th anniversary. From 1970 to 2003, the university prepared over 20 thousand specialists. In 2005, a new rector was elected at the university — a Doctor of Chemistry, Professor Alexander Ilyich Rusakov. Today P.G. Demidov Yaroslavl State University is a leading higher education institution of the Upper-Volga region, preparing more than 7,000 students. The University has ten faculties: Law, Mathematics, Physics, Economics, History, Computer Science, Socio-Political Sciences, Psychology, Biology and Ecology, Philology and Communication. In addition to a classical five-year education some faculties give students an opportunity to participate in bachelors and masters degree programmes.